County announces road projects for 2025

County roads in Laketown Township and the surrounding areas will see improvements this season, according to the Allegan County Road Commission.  On January 14, 2025, Township Supervisor and Interim Manager Steven Ringelberg met at the offices of the road commission with Phil Kernodle, superintendent, Ryan Kemppainen, county highway engineer, and Craig Atwood, county highway engineer, to review the plans for roadwork in the area in 2025.

The road commission announced the following area projects:

Blue Star Highway in Fillmore Township from 141^st Avenue to 143^rd Avenue: Resurface and widen the road to include a center turn lane for a total of 1.13 miles.

64^th Street in Laketown Township from Blue Star Highway to the Ottawa County Line: Crack, chip and fog seal 6.06 miles.

Chip sealing uses a thin layer of liquid asphalt on the road surface followed by placing small aggregate chips on top. Fog sealing involves applying a thin layer of asphalt emulsion to an existing asphalt road surface.

Funding for the projects includes grants from the State of Michigan and revenue from the millage county voters approved last year. This county millage raised $4.3 million for improvements on local roads.

From 1983-2024, the millage raised $89.7 million to fund 781 miles of paving, 288 miles of chip seal and fog coating, 355 miles of crack sealing and 14 large culvert replacement.

In 2024, the millage funded 24 miles of paving, 10 miles of chip seal and fog coating and 19 miles of crack sealing.

The county projects are selected by evaluating pavement conditions through the Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER) system, road history such as when and how the road was constructed and paved and the last resurfacing or maintenance, and other considerations including traffic volumes, distresses such as poor soil and drainage, safety and cost.

Allegan County is responsible for 1,800 miles of roads and 154 bridges.

Other road work

The Allegan County funded work on the county roads is separate from the township road work approved by the Laketown Township Board of Trustees in November.

The township authorized the following improvements:

• Resurface 138^th Avenue from 60^th Street west to the cul-de-sac for a cost of $275,000;
• Resurface 146^th Avenue west of 66^th Street and the Castle Park public roads for $245,000;
• Resurface Arlene Lane for $75,000;
• Resurface and repair the shared-use path on 147^th Avenue from Wolters Woods Park to the west and on 64^th Street for $250,000;
• Four roadside mowings for $4,000 with two paid for by Allegan County;
• Dust control for gravel roads for $1,000.

The decisions on which township roads to resurface are based upon the PASER ratings throughout the township that show the quality of roads in the township.

The 2025 work follows a plan for road maintenance through 2030 that was approved in 2023.